Herbal Extracts That Reduce Ocular Oxidative Stress May Enhance Attentive Performance in Humans

Hohyun Cho,Kyung Chul Yoon,Jee-Bum Lee,Sung Chan Jun,Moonyoung Kwon,Hyojung Jang

doi:10.1155/2016/4292145

Abstract

We used herbal extracts in this study to investigate the effects of blue-light-induced oxidative stress on subjects' attentive performance, which is also associated with work performance. We employed an attention network test (ANT) to measure the subjects' work performance indirectly and used herbal extracts to reduce ocular oxidative stress. Thirty-two subjects participated in either an experimental group (wearing glasses containing herbal extracts) or a control group (wearing glasses without herbal extracts). During the ANT experiment, we collected electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) data and measured button responses. In addition, electrocardiogram (ECG) data were collected before and after the experiments. The EOG results showed that the experimental group exhibited a reduced number of eye blinks per second during the experiment and faster button responses with a smaller variation than did the control group; this group also showed relatively more sustained tension in their ECG results. In the EEG analysis, the experimental group had significantly greater cognitive processing, with larger P300 and parietal 2–6 Hz activity, an orienting effect with neural processing of frontal area, high beta activity in the occipital area, and an alpha and beta recovery process after the button response. We concluded that reducing blue-light-induced oxidative stress with herbal extracts may be associated with reducing the number of eye blinks and enhancing attentive performance.

Highlights

Overexposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays has been associated with a number of eye problems, including pterygium, corneal degenerative changes, photokeratitis, and agerelated cataracts [1,2,3,4]
Recent studies have revealed that blue light found in the visible spectrum and detectable by the human eye is correlated with oxidative stress [4,5,6] produced primarily by digital display technologies in typical working environments, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, monitors, and other devices
The means and SDs of the response time (RT) in the experimental group were significantly smaller than were those in the control group (p < 0.05; Figure 2(a))

Summary

Introduction

Overexposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays has been associated with a number of eye problems, including pterygium, corneal degenerative changes, photokeratitis, and agerelated cataracts [1,2,3,4]. Recent studies have revealed that blue light found in the visible spectrum and detectable by the human eye is correlated with oxidative stress [4,5,6] produced primarily by digital display technologies in typical working environments, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, monitors, and other devices. It is possible that reducing oxidative stress in human corneal epithelial cells will improve people’s work performance. The association between oxidative stress and attention related to work performance has not yet been investigated. Previous research [5] has shown that herbal extracts have potent protective effects against blue-light-induced oxidative stress, due to the fact that they increase the antioxidant enzymes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), peroxiredoxin-1 (Prx1), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2) in corneal epithelial cells. Choi et al [6, 7] showed that herbal extracts can reduce the symptoms of dry-eye disease (DED)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion